Month: April 2021

DNA extracted from remains found in a Bulgarian cave of three people who lived roughly 45,000 years ago is revealing surprises about some of the first Homo sapiens populations to venture into Europe, including extensive interbreeding with Neanderthals and genetic links to present-day East Asians.Scientists said on Wednesday they sequenced the genomes of these three …

Read more “Bulgarian Cave Remains Reveal Surprises About Earliest Homo Sapiens in Europe”

The number of violent attacks against Jews in the U.S. and Germany rose last year even while anti-Jewish violent incidents decreased elsewhere around the world amid the coronavirus pandemic, an Israeli academic research group reported on Wednesday.In its annual report, the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University identified …

Read more “Violence Against Jews Rose Last Year in US, Germany”

NATO is marking the 72nd anniversary of its founding this week. Henry Ridgwell reports the military alliance faces new challenges – and enduring threats.Producer: Henry Hernandez …

Norwegian coast guard officials said Wednesday bad weather and rough seas have prompted them to postpone efforts to recover a Dutch cargo ship drifting off the coast of Norway following the evacuation of its crew earlier this week.The Norwegian Coastal Administration (NCA) said it had planned to approach the  Eemslift Hendrika with tugs and bring …

Read more “Norwegian Coast Guard Postpones Salvage of Abandoned Ship”

Turkey’s state media on Wednesday reported that a Turkish court sentenced dozens of people, including former soldiers attached to the presidential guard, to life in prison for their involvement in the 2016 failed coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government.The Turkish state news service Anadolu, citing judicial sources, reported 32 life sentences, including six …

Read more “Turkish Court Sentences Dozens to Life Imprisonment for 2016 Coup Attempt”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has stressed his commitment to the editorial independence of Voice of America and other foreign news outlets overseen by the U.S. Agency for Global Media.Blinken’s State Department does not oversee the government’s global news organization, but he met Tuesday with acting USAGM chief executive Kelu Chao “to discuss the …

Read more “Blinken Affirms Independence of VOA, Discusses Threats to Reporting in Russia”

As NATO marks the 72nd anniversary of its founding this week, the alliance faces new challenges and enduring threats. Western allies have voiced concern over the buildup of Russian troops and military hardware along the border with Ukraine in recent weeks. Russian troops are conducting exercises in Crimea, a part of Ukraine that was forcibly annexed …

Read more “At 72, NATO Alliance Faces New Challenges, Enduring Threats”

Iran and world powers held what they described as “constructive” talks on Tuesday and agreed to form working groups to discuss the sanctions Washington might lift and the nuclear curbs Tehran might observe as they try to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.European intermediaries have started shuttling between Iranian and U.S. officials in Vienna as they …

Read more “World Powers, Iran Hold ‘Constructive’ Talks on Reviving Nuclear Deal”

European Council President Charles Michel and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met with the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday for talks on a reset in relations. After meeting Erdogan in Ankara, Michel spoke to reporters about the EU’s deep concern over human rights in Turkey.“The rule of law and respect of fundamental rights are core values …

Read more “EU Leaders Warn Erdogan on Human Rights Amid Progress in Talks “

The United States reaffirmed its commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity Tuesday but stopped short of publicly backing Kyiv’s call for a quicker path to membership in NATO. “We’ve long been discussing that aspiration with Ukraine,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters when asked about Ukraine’s latest push to join the Western military …

Read more “US Won’t Commit to NATO Membership for Ukraine”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov began a two-day official visit Tuesday to Pakistan amid growing diplomatic, economic, and military ties between the two countries.    Pakistani and Russian officials said Lavrov’s delegation-level talks with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi also will focus on ongoing diplomatic efforts to bring an end to the war in neighboring …

Read more “Russia’s Lavrov in Pakistan to Discuss Bilateral Ties, Afghan Peace “

European leaders hope the start Tuesday of indirect talks in Vienna between the United States and Iran about reviving an international deal to limit Tehran’s nuclear capabilities, will realign Washington and European policy toward the Islamic Republic.Then-U.S. President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the international deal in 2018 and a reimposition of American sanctions on Iran …

Read more “Europeans Press for Progress on US-Iran Nuclear Talks”

Jailed Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny has been moved to a prison hospital and tested for the coronavirus, Russian media reported. His hospitalization came Monday,  just hours after he released a statement on social media in which he alleged a tuberculosis outbreak in the prison and complained of a heavy cough and high fever. Concerns …

Read more “Report: Jailed Russian Opposition Leader Navalny Hospitalized”

The promise to return several Benin Bronzes from three Western institutions to the former Kingdom of Benin in Nigeria was celebrated by many. But returning all the artifacts looted by British soldiers 125 years ago will continue to be a challenge.In recent weeks, a university in Scotland and museums in Germany and Britain pledged to …

Read more “Effort to Return Benin Bronzes to Africa Remains Ongoing Challenge”

Norwegian coast guard officials said Tuesday the 12-member crew of a Dutch cargo ship that was adrift and in danger of capsizing in rough seas has been rescued off the coast of Norway.Crew members onboard the Eemslift Hendrika raised an alert in the North Sea on Monday, prompting the coast guard to launch a helicopter …

Read more “Norwegian Coast Guard Rescues Crew of Dutch Cargo Ship in Distress”

France’s role before and during the 1994 Rwandan genocide was a “monumental failure” that the country must acknowledge, the lead author of a report commissioned by President Emmanuel Macron said, as the country is about to open its archives from this period to the public.The report, published in March, concluded that French authorities remained blind …

Read more “France to Open Archive for Period Covering Rwandan Genocide”

Like thousands before him, Oufame Mdiay left Senegal in search of work and a better future.Taking his life in his hands, he spent a week in a cramped boat with nearly 130 others who recently made the Atlantic journey from Senegal to Spain’s Canary Islands, 100 kilometers off the coast of Morocco.  “I want to …

Read more “Spain Looks to Africa for Ways to Curb Migrant Influx”

Steam and lava spurted Monday from a new fissure at an Icelandic volcano that began erupting last month, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of hikers who had come to see the spectacle. The new fissure, first spotted by a sightseeing helicopter, was about 500 meters (550 yards) long and about a kilometer (around a half-mile) from …

Read more “Hikers Scramble as New Fissure Opens Up at Icelandic Volcano”

Jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny has been moved to a sick ward after complaining of a cough and temperature, the Izvestia newspaper reported Monday. Earlier Monday, Navalny said in an Instagram post that a third prisoner in his quarters had been sent to the hospital with suspected tuberculosis. In the post, Navalny said prison doctors had officially …

Read more “Navalny Moved to Sick Ward as Fellow Inmates Hospitalized With Suspected Tuberculosis”

The United States, finding reports of Russian military movements on Ukraine’s border credible, asked Moscow to explain the “provocations” and is ready to engage on the situation, the U.S. State Department said Monday. The reported Russian troop buildup and movements bordering eastern Ukraine have become the latest point of tension in icy U.S.-Russian relations less than …

Read more “US Asks Russia to Explain ‘Provocations’ on Ukraine Border”

Top European Union officials head to Turkey Tuesday to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a bid to reset relations.In a bid to ease the latest tensions, European Council president Charles Michel and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen will seek a framework for cooperation with Turkey when they meet President Recep Tayyip …

Read more “Top EU Officials Head to Turkey for a Reset”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a controversial bill that opens the door for him to potentially remain in power until 2036. The bill, which was recently approved by the lower and upper chambers of parliament, aligns the election laws with constitutional changes approved by voters last year. One of the constitutional changes resets Putin’s …

Read more “Putin Signs Law that Paves the Way to Him Ruling Until 2036 “

Russia Monday backed off a threat to block Twitter inside the country but said it will continue to slow down the social media site until mid-May.The move comes as the state media watchdog, Roskomnazdor, said Twitter has been removing banned content more quickly. It had said Twitter failed to remove content encouraging child suicide, pornography …

Read more “Russia Backs Off Plan to Block Twitter, Extends Slowdown”

Police and politicians in Northern Ireland appealed for calm on Monday after a third night of violence that saw Protestant youths start fires and pelt officers with bricks and gasoline bombs.The flareups come amid rising tensions over post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland and worsening relations between the parties in the Protestant-Catholic power-sharing Belfast government.The …

Read more “Northern Ireland Sees 3rd Night of Unrest Amid Post-Brexit Tensions”